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Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, May 16, 2005
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■ In my opinion
A ‘peak’ into oil’s future
In the last few days, I’ve been
thinking a lot about Peak Oil. Peak Oil
means the rate of oil production in re
lation to consumer need reaches the
highest it will ever be, and if con
sumers want oil, it can be obtained
easily and for a relatively low cost.
Every second after Peak Oil is another
second that our world’s capacity for
oil production is shrinking; it’s like
reaching the top of a bell curve — the
only place to go is down.
Although estimates vary, most re
cent studies agree that the world will
see a global oil peak by the year 2020
at the latest. This means that in fewer
than 15 years, after the peak, oil
just won’t cut it. Rapidly declining
supply will lead to high and unstable
oil prices; not to mention that in a na
tion that depends on oil to fuel its
economy, almost every facet of life in
the United States will be affected by
peak oil.
Republicans and Democrats sit
around and whine that the world’s
energy crisis is based on botched for
eign relations or touchy emotions
over drilling sites. The truth of the
matter is much simpler than that. It’s
not Saudi Arabia’s fault, nor is it
staunch environmentalists who
protest drilling the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. Oil is a limited natu
ral resource, and neither humans nor
their demand for oil is decreasing.
The time has come to take a world
wide step back and stop blaming our
energy problems on everyone except
ourselves, the people who have been
trained to depend on a resource that
by definition cannot sustain itself.
One solution to diminishing oil that
recently has come forward is nuclear
power. In some ways, nuclear energy
seems like just the silver bullet we’ve
been searching for; It’s powerful,
releases fewer greenhouse gases
-— —T.:„ _
AILEE SLATER
FURTHER FROM PERFECTION
than fossil fuels and has been in
development for years.
However, the problems associated
with nuclear power are surprisingly
numerous. Nuclear power still
generates a large amount of carbon
dioxide and doesn’t make substantial
ly lessen climate change, as some
supporters claim.
Another set of issues comes with
the extremely high cost of building
and maintaining nuclear power
plants. Most important, a crack in a
nuclear energy facility is not just an
inconvenience, it is a serious threat to
the surrounding population. And,
speaking of threats, how about the re
sulting nuclear waste from power
plants? Besides the conspiracy theo
rist fear that terrorists will steal nu
clear byproducts and create weapons,
there is also a very real concern about
what to do with radioactive byprod
ucts from nuclear material. Huge
amounts of money and safety are be
ing compromised in the quest to
mainstream nuclear power.
For what it’s worth, here’s a woe
fully unscientific opinion: Whatever
happened to hydrogen energy? Maybe
as a Bachelor of Arts student I’m
missing something here, but it seems
blatantly obvious that all available re
sources should go into exploring nat
ural, renewable energy. There is no
shortage of water on this planet. The
only output from hydrogen power is
more water, making this energy op
tion viable from both an economic
and environmental perspective.
How about wind energy and ener
gy using tidal waves? It sounds like so
much other liberal propaganda, but
isn’t it just plain logical to suggest that
nations work within the realm of pos
sible, safe, clean energy sources? In
stead of continually putting all our
eggs in one basket, as with oil, our
world needs to explore how to utilize
a multitude of energy sources at the
same time. For instance, some areas
might be better equipped to utilize
wind turbines; others may have a
good source of tidal waves.
Economically, there’s no reason
any nation should be dependent on
companies that burn dwindling fossil
fuels to make products. The United
States especially should put some se
rious thought and resources into mak
ing sure that when oil becomes unfea
sible to use, our country and
economy will be relaxing, with the
knowledge that the wind and the
waves are not going anywhere.
The only concrete conclusion that
can be derived from this global energy
fiasco is that all citizens who have a
woefully blind eye toward the in
evitable must undergo a serious
wake-up call. Citizens residing in a
big white house on Capitol Hill
should especially take note. As much
as we’d like to believe otherwise, the
United States is not immune to Peak
Oil, global warming and other in
evitable events resulting from our
heavy dependence on energy.
The issues of productivity versus
resources and safety versus
efficiency have reached the top of
their bell curve. Until the world can
rely on clean and renewable energy
sources, these problems are only
going to get worse.
aileeslater@ dailyemerald. com
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■ Editorial
Keep NPR
free from
government
influence
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times report
ed that Kenneth Tomlinson, appointed head
of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
may be asking journalists from National Pub
lic Radio to end projects that cast a bad light
on the Republican Party. Apparently, Tomlin
son wants to correct what he perceives to be a
liberal bias at NPR.
It’s no great secret that national broadcast
news sources are not always as “fair and
balanced” as they claim to be. Most
television and radio news stations rely on the
needs of advertisers rather than the
general public when making decisions
about what is newsworthy. A conservative
news station would hardly want to air
material or information that seemed to
contain a liberal bias, as this would alienate
viewers, causing the station to lose
advertisers and ultimately profits. Likewise,
much of the news on these stations is
compressed in order to supply viewers and
listeners with the most information possible
between commercial breaks.
This is exactly why news sources such as
NPR remain an essential facet of free media.
NPR relies on contributions from listeners and
the federal government rather than commercial
advertising, meaning that featured news comes
from a place of true journalism rather than an
attempt to appease possible advertisers or
upper-level management.
Anyone who has ever listened to NPR
knows it is not a regular news station. NPR
doesn’t have updates every five minutes on
the Michael Jackson case or the latest
blond woman to be kidnapped. Instead, NPR
airs in-depth stories on subjects from
religious schools training lawyers to the
experience of running a modern day gay
brothel. Sound familiar? It’s not, and that’s
what remains so important about National
Public Broadcasting.
It is wrong of Tomlinson to meddle in
NPR’s journalistic decisions. NPR represents
one of the most balanced sources of
information in this country. NPR doesn’t
have to worry about appeasing anyone and
almost always includes in-depth analysis on
all sides of a pertinent issue. When was
the last time you sat in front of CNN and
watched a 10-minute program on a political
dilemma that included history, pros and
cons and personal interviews? NPR relies
on actual information and investigation,
not liberal propaganda as Tomlinson would
like to believe.
Most important is the precedent that will be
set if Tomlinson is allowed to get away with
influencing NPR programming. If public
broadcasting is not allowed a journalistic in
tegrity sans government influence, what hope
is there for the rest of the media? Radio listen
ers have come to depend on public broadcast
ing as a non-biased news source. Letting the
head of a corporation determine what is
newsworthy will create just another media
outlet ruled by a business head rather than an
outlet that gives the American public what it
actually needs to know.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick Steven R. Neuman
Editor in Chief Managing Editor
Ailee Slater Shadra Beesley
Commentary Editor Copy Chief
Adrienne Nelson
Online Editor